The present invention relates to a controllable camera support and system, used particularly in hospital operating rooms during surgery.
The expansion of Internet has allowed service prices to go down while the demand and development of telecommunications technologies has increased exponentially. The technological developments in telecommunications have led to the formation of several regional and international committees in telemedicine, in particular the Telemedicine Committee of Canada and the International Telecommunications Committee. In general, telemedicine has the advantage of reducing costs of interchanging important medical information.
According to a publication (Sachs et al., 1995), a system called Spectro-Microscopy Collaboratory is used, in the Lawrence Berkley laboratory of the University of California, for observing the laboratory and making experiments at a distance. A visualisation system is used for selecting different cameras in an experiment room and changing their orientation. This system is also used by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for making experiments in the Lawrence Berkley laboratory of California.
Another system has ben developed at the University of Tokyo in collaboration with National Hospital of Fukuyama (Mitsuishi et al., 1995). This system is a very complex robotic system for observing and controlling a surgical robot from a distance. The system comprises a slave type manipulator and a slave surgical microscope which is moved correspondingly with the tip of a device used by a user. This system has been successful in performing an anastomose of a blood vessel having a diameter of less than 1 mm in a rat (Mitsuishi).
These aforementioned technologies are quite evolved but are not directly applicable for use in an operating room. In particular, these solutions are too complicated and expensive to be used in an operating room.
An object of the present invention is to provide a controllable camera support and a system which are relatively simple and less expensive than those known in the art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a algorithm and method that will allow a distant observer to control the camera support and the camera.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a controllable camera support comprising:
a pivoting arm adapted to be rotatably connected to a pivot point defining a first rotational axis, the pivoting arm defining a radial axis;
a camera holder mounted on the pivoting arm, the camera holder being displaceable along the radial axis;
motor means coupled to the pivoting arm and to the camera holder, the motor means adapted to impart rotational and radial motions to the camera holder; and
control means for controlling the motor means.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a camera system comprising:
a pivoting arm adapted to be rotatably connected to a pivot point defining a first rotational axis, said pivoting arm defining a radial axis;
a camera holder mounted on said pivoting arm, said camera holder being displaceable along said radial axis;
a focal adjustable, rotational, tilting camera mounted on said camera holder, said camera defining a second rotational axis parallel to said first rotational axis about which said camera may rotate by means of an camera rotation motor, said camera defining a third rotational axis perpendicular to said first rotational axis about which said camera may tilt by means of a camera tilting motor, said camera including a focal adjustment mechanism;
motor means coupled to said pivoting arm and to said camera holder, said motor means adapted to impart rotational and radial motions to said camera holder; and
control means for controlling said motor means, said camera rotation motor, said camera tilting motor, and said focal adjustment mechanism.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a camera system comprising:
a pivoting arm adapted to be rotatably connected to a pivot point defining a first rotational axis, said pivoting arm defining a radial axis;
a camera holder mounted on said pivoting arm, said camera holder being displaceable along said radial axis;
a focal adjustable, rotational, tilting camera mounted on said camera holder, said camera defining a second rotational axis parallel to said first rotational axis about which said camera may rotate by means of an camera rotation motor, said camera defining a third rotational axis perpendicular to said first rotational axis about which said camera may tilt by means of a camera tilting motor, said camera including a focal adjustment mechanism, said camera focusing on a target;
motor means coupled to said pivoting arm and to said camera holder, said motor means adapted to impart rotational and radial motions to said camera holder; and
control means for controlling said motor means, said camera rotation motor, said camera tilting motor, and said focal adjustment mechanism;
wherein when the target focused by the camera becomes obstructed by an obstruction, said control means is adapted to move said camera to another position all the while focusing on said target, whereby as said camera moves, said target is always focused by said camera so that said camera can be moved to another position where the obstruction does not obstruct said camera.